BIOS
PARTNERSHIP
Reunion Pictures was formed through a convergence of talent from three leaders in Vancouver production: Richardson, O’Connor and Rowe previously worked together at Pacific Motion Pictures Corporation (PMP); one of Canada’s most successful production companies in the 1990s. PMP earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and a prestigious Peabody award for ‘The Baby Dance’, which it developed, financed and co-produced for ShowTime. Richardson left PMP in 1998 to form Dogwood Pictures with Muse Entertainment Inc., a Montreal based film and television production and distribution company. O’Connor and Rowe went on to become executives in the motion picture and visual effects company, Sextant Entertainment.
While at Sextant Entertainment, O’Connor and Rowe oversaw the development, financing, production and distribution of a number of television movies, mini-series and episodic productions. ‘100 Days In The Jungle’ won the Gemini Award for Canada’s best television movie. It also enjoyed significant foreign success.
Sextant Entertainment had successful partnerships with Hallmark Entertainment, Carlton International, Granada Television, BBC, Pilot Productions, CTV, The Comedy Network and more. Its business included development, production, financing, animation, visual effects and distribution.
Dogwood, through Richardson’s tutelage, grew to be a highly respected and versatile independent film production company known for its excellence and dedication to filmmaking.
Richardson, through Dogwood, produced feature films with such international companies as CLT-UFA International, J & M Entertainment, New Line Cinema and Lions Gate Films. Richardson has also produced television movies and mini-series for all the major US networks. Additionally, Richardson and Dogwood produced a number of Canadian content and international treaty co-production films.
PRODUCERS
MATTHEW O'CONNOR - Partner
LISA RICHARDSON - Partner
TOM ROWE - Partner
Currently a partner in the production and financing company Reunion Pictures, O’Connor has,throughout his career, produced over 1.5 billion dollars worth of production through his variouscompanies.
In the 1980s, he formed Metro Pictures International, which produced music videos for Long John Baldry, Poisoned and numerous other performing artists. Metro won two West Coast Music Awards for Best Video and went on to produce a feature presentation for The Canadian Pavilion at Expo ’86 in Vancouver, B.C.
O’Connor later founded Pacific Motion Pictures (PMP), which became one of Canada’s largest and most respected motion pictures companies, producing more than 80 films. PMP later joined forces with other entertainment powerhouses to form Sextant Entertainment Group, a diversified media group in Vancouver B.C.
Having produced more than 100 hours of long form television, O’Connor’s projects have garnered numerous award nominations and wins. He received the prestigious Peabody Award for the television movie The Baby Dance. His television movies, miniseries and features have garnered him multiple nominations for Emmy, Golden Globe, Genie (Canadian Oscars) and Gemini Awards (Canadian Emmys). In 2003, O’Connor won the Gemini for Best Television Movie or Miniseries for the docudrama 100 Days in the Jungle. O’Connor has produced films for such major studios as Columbia Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Tri-Star. Magic In the Water, a fantasy adventure starring Mark Harmon and Joshua Jackson, won a Genie Award in sound and cinematography. Other films include Kiss The Sky, starring William Petersen and Gary Cole, the comedy thriller Masterminds with a cast headed by Patrick Stewart, the romantic drama Bliss, starring Craig Sheffer, Sheryl Lee and Terence Stamp, and A Boy Called Hate, starring James Caan and Elliott Gould.
LISA RICHARDSON - Partner
Lisa began her film career in the 1970s as a production accountant. In the early 1990’s Lisa worked with Pacific Motion Pictures producing films and was VP of Business Affairs where she negotiated and closed all types of production related contracts. Prior to joining Pacific Motion Pictures Lisa was one of the founding partners of western Canada’s leading film payroll and accounting software company, Televector Disc, a company that was acquired by EP Canada in 2003.
Lisa is well versed in the financial packaging of Canadian content and treaty co production projects. She is also very familiar with non-Canadian network requirements and has worked with independent film producers worldwide.
In 1998 she launched Dogwood Pictures Inc. Lisa, through Dogwood Pictures, developed and produced feature films with such international companies as CLT-UFA International, J&M Entertainment, New Line Cinema and Lions Gate Films. Dogwood Pictures also produced television movies and mini-series for all of the major US networks.
In April of 2004 Lisa joined partners Tom Rowe and Matthew O'Connor to form Reunion Pictures. Since 2004 Lisa produced two seasons of the Showtime and Industry Entertainment series Masters of Horror, along with partner Tom Rowe, and also Co-Executive Produced the series Masters of Science Fiction and Executive Produced ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’. 2008 sees Lisa gearing up to produce the sci-fi mini-series ‘Dragonsteel’
TOM ROWE - Partner
Tom graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1979 and began working in Vancouver’s nascent film industry. In 1989 he founded Pacific Motion Pictures with partner Matthew O’Connor. Over the next 10 years the company produced 80 Movies for Television and 7 theatrical motion pictures, including Canada’s best selling home video title ever, Magic In The Water. The company also received a George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence In Television for The Baby Dance. In 1997 Tom received an Emmy nomination for Best Mini-Series for producing Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. In 1999, PMP was sold to Sextant Entertainment where he produced the 2003 Gemini Best Picture Winner, 100 Days In The Jungle. He also produced the very funny CGI/puppet show Don’t Eat The Neighbours for YTV and Granada and the very adventurous Treks In The Wild World for OLN and the BBC.
He served four years as co-chair of the Minister of Heritages’ Canadian Feature Film Fund Advisory Group. He is chair of the BC Producers Branch of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association as well as serving on it’s national executive. He serves on the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design Foundation Board (his renamed alma mater) and the Gambier Island/Fircom Creek Water Society and Volunteer Fire Department.
Since 2004 Tom has produced two seasons of the Showtime TV series ‘Masters of Horror’ and more recently executive produced ‘Flash Gordon’, airing on pay service Superchannel in Canada and the Sci Fi Channel in the USA.
OUR TEAM
PADDY BICKERTON - Business and Legal AffairsKATY LEW - Finance and Administration
RAJVINDER UPPAL - Development
ROSS REDHEAD - Facilities
PADDY BICKERTON – Business and Legal Affairs
Paddy Bickerton is a lawyer with over fifteen years of legal and business affairs experience working exclusively in the entertainment industry, responsible for the legal and business aspects of development and production on projects too numerous to count.
Paddy’s history includes a stint at Telefilm Canada as Legal Counsel and Business Analyst where she worked on many different productions (including the critically acclaimed Hard Core Logo), as well as extensive experience working in the private sector.
Paddy has recently re-united with producers Matthew O’Connor, Tom Rowe and Lisa Richardson, the partners of Reunion Pictures Inc., where she is utilizing her business and legal affairs acumen in connection with Reunion’s development and production slate.
KATY LEW – Finance and Administration
Katy Lew has worked at Reunion Pictures since April 2004 handling finance and administration for the company. In addition, Katy oversees production services, production finance and tax credit administration for the corporations’ film and television production companies. Prior to working at Reunion, Katy worked as the executive assistant to Lisa Richardson, President of Dogwood Pictures, from April 1999 to April 2004.
RAJVINDER UPPAL – Development
Born and raised in England, Rajvinder graduated from the University of Lancaster. Her first industry job was working on a BBC Television children’s drama series.
She stayed with the series for three seasons, working her way up to the role of assistant floor manager. She continued to work in that capacity for numerous shows in production across the UK for both the BBC and Granada Television. Rajvinder immigrated to Vancouver in 2003 and worked as an assistant director on a number of projects.
Rajvinder was a CFTPA intern producer with Reunion Pictures on the Showtime TV series ‘Masters of Horror’ during its first season in 2005. She then joined Carl Bessai at Raven West Films on a BC Film Producer internship, where she was Co-Producer on the feature film, ‘Normal’, starring Carrie-Anne Moss and Kevin Zegers. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival 2007 and played at numerous festivals including Puscan. Outside of her roles, Rajvinder has successfully produced three short films and in 2006 her solo producer short film ‘Damnation’ was invited in official competition to Screamfest LA 2006, BIFFF 2007 and SITGES 2007. Rajvinder is currently developing ‘Damnation’ into a theatrical feature, in addition to a South East Asian coming of age mini-series for television with her own company, At The End Of The Day Productions.
Rajvinder recently happily returned to work with Reunion Pictures, where she heads a newly formed Development department.
ROSS REDHEAD - Facilities
Ross Redhead has worked for Reunion Pictures since its inception in 2004. Over the last 8 years of working in Vancouver's film industry he has enjoyed working on numerous productions such as: 10.5, The Butterfly Effect and Masters of Horror and looks forward to what Reunion’s exciting film future holds.